It’s a Feria, 4th Class, with the color of Green. In this episode: today in Church History: “1867 – The Pope’s Soldiers Defeat Garibaldi”, the meditation: “The School of the Saints”, today’s news from the Church: “SALUS ANIMARUM – The Documentary Is Now Available”, and today’s thought from the Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
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Sources Used Today:
- “The School of the Saints” — From the Assumption to Advent
- “SALUS ANIMARUM – The Documentary Is Now Available” (FSSPX.news)
- Spiritual Journey — Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (Angelus Press)
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When Saint Malachy visited the monastery of Clairvaux in France, he found something he badly wanted: a place where he could finally settle down and be a monk. He even asked the pope’s permission to stay.
The pope sent him back to Ireland with more responsibilities.
You can imagine how that felt. Malachy had already spent years trying to untangle problems that powerful people preferred to leave tangled. Born at Armagh around 1094, he became a priest, an abbot, and a bishop in an Irish Church with a magnificent spiritual inheritance, but also some deeply entrenched abuses. At Armagh, control of ecclesiastical office had become the possession of a powerful family, passed along almost like inherited property.
Malachy’s predecessor, Saint Celsus, had begun breaking that arrangement. Malachy had to carry the work forward. Opposition delayed his taking possession of Armagh, and the struggle involved rival claimants, political pressure, and competing claims to the ancient symbols of authority.
There was nothing comfortable about this assignment. Malachy persevered, restoring ecclesiastical discipline and strengthening the Church’s connection with Rome. Eventually, he relinquished Armagh and continued his work as Bishop of Down.
His friendship with Saint Bernard gave him encouragement. Malachy loved the prayerful life at Clairvaux, and although he couldn’t remain there, he arranged for Irish companions to receive formation among its monks. That friendship helped bring the Cistercians to Ireland, with the foundation of Mellifont Abbey in 1142. Something fruitful grew from the quiet life he had wanted for himself.
Bernard’s account also gives us a wonderfully human glimpse of their affection. When Malachy returned in 1148, Bernard, despite his own weakness, hurried out to meet him, embracing and kissing his friend. The whole monastery rejoiced.
Then Malachy developed a fever.
He died there on November second, surrounded by the monks, with Bernard beside him. His Irish labors had ended, but he had reached the place where he had longed to rest.
An especially touching detail survives in the accounts of their burial: Malachy was buried wearing Bernard’s habit. Five years later, Bernard was buried wearing Malachy’s.
Centuries afterward, in 1982, a portion of Malachy’s relics returned to Armagh and was placed in the cathedral’s new altar. Centuries afterward, in 1982, a portion of Malachy’s relics returned to Armagh and was placed in the cathedral’s new altar. The bishop who had worked so hard for his people had, in that tangible way, come home.
Saint Malachy, pray for us.
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